Here's a section for those who are interested in discussing the story behind the 1933 $20 gold.How it ended up in the hands of a British coin dealer prior to being auctioned is beyond me.Does anyone know what this coin,which was in the collection of King Farouk of Egypt,went for? I know that $20 was added to the price to balance the books.
I have looked at the book about the 1933 $20 gold peices and it was neat...yes I think it was King Farouk that had it...I tihnk it went for $7.59 million. Speedy
The Saint-Gaudens Double Eagles are indeed facinating coins, and especially the 1933 mintage. There is speculation that up to ten of the banned 1933 Saints were somehow removed from guarded mint bags and replaced by earlier dated coins when it came time to melt the coins. I can verify that I have a birth year Saint from the Denver mint, but have heard that a majority of the missing 10 coins dated 1933 are somewhere in Utah. GDJMSP may know of a more specific location. These coins are all subject to confiscation and prosecution, so he may not be willing to tell all he may know on the subject. They are referred to as contraband!
I had also heard that early in 1933 Mint employees were bale to buy the 1933 $20 coin (as was the case with all coins) for ace value, and that some did so prior to the hammer coming down. I would have argued back then that all those were legal I do wish they had pressed their claim back then – probably too difficult to do it now. The only reason the one legal on is legal is because the feds did not want an expensive court fight. I am not sure they ever really agreed to any reasoning that it should be legal, but they instead chose to go for a settlement (“The American Way”).
Hey GD.... I'll never tell like OldDan did that they are under your door mat If only I knew!!! Speedy
<I had also heard that early in 1933 Mint employees were bale to buy the 1933 $20 coin (as was the case with all coins) for ace value, and that some did so prior to the hammer coming down. > True, and the Treasury Dept even offered then for sale to collectors back in 1933 before the close down date (See Walter P Nichols File by Q D Bowers. In it it mentions a Treasury circular offering coins available to collectors with a hand written addendum mentioning that the Eagles and double eagles of 1933 were now available as well.)
I interviewed a public affairs representative from the Secret Service last summer and he was clear and direct. The 1933 $20 gold coins are contraband. They were stolen from the U.S. Mint. I did not argue with him. I was just gathering facts and opinions. It was not my place to argue. Among those facts and opinions is the fact that the coin recently sold was, in fact, granted an export license for King Farouk of Egypt. There are at least two opinions based on that fact: it is important; and, it is irrelevant. Personally, I think it is much ado about nothing, a tempest in a teapot. What does it matter that the Mint changed its mind and recalled an issue of coins? Aesthetically, it is just another coin. There is no shortage of Uncirculated Saints in the world and not one is really exemplary as a coin. I know that everyone in America praises the $20 Saints. Compared to the Barber series and the Seateds, which which we suffered for so long, yes, the Saint-Gaudens coins are, indeed, nice. They ushered in what has been called "the golden age of American numismatics." The $20 and $10 Saint-Gaudens, the Standing and Walking Liberty, the Peace Dollar, the Buffalo Nickel, Mercury Dime, Bela Pratt Lyon's incuse Indians, ... the entire array of U.S. coinage was greatly improved. That said, any collector of 19th century European silver jetons can put that array to shame. As far as production goes, the Saint Gaudens double eagles were subjected to a wide range of experimental surfaces that resulted from sandblasting and pickling them in acid. You never see one cameo.
